Nigeria has an abundant supply of technology talents to address the pressing manpower shortage in the global semiconductor industry, Dr. Bosun Tijani, Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, has said.  

The Minister, who raised concerns on Wednesday about the shortage of manpower in the semiconductor industry said that this has prompted the need for swift measures to bridge the gap.

Tijani, who addressed the shortage of manpower in the semiconductor industry as “the most pressing issue,” which he said has initiated a collaboration with Secure ID Ltd and SEMI Europe.

According to the Minister, “as digital technologies enable our world, the semiconductor industry is a a legacy industry that is playing a significant role in driving this disruption. Considering the anticipated growth in Artificial Intelligence, UAV and other Fourth Industrial Revolution Technology, the demand on the semiconductor industry to power these technologies will continue to deepen.”

On this note, the Minister signed an agreement between SecureID Limited, a leading Nigerian smartcard manufacturing company, and SEMI Europe, an association of major companies in the semiconductor industry (focused on developing products with three traits as goals: smaller, faster, and cheaper), to contribute to bridging the talent gap in the sector.

Tijani said that the semiconductor sector is dominated by few countries thereby resulting in difficulty in meeting the global supply.

With Nigeria’s ambition to become a net exporter of tech talent, this pose as an opportunity to participate in the semi conductor ecosystem, the Minister said.

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